We know that your top priorities right now are keeping your business running and keeping yourself and your families and employees safe and well. Within the context of keeping your business running, we want to partner with you to put your business in a stronger position today and in the future. Therefore, we have developed and offer patent strategies that are tailored to the current economic environment and that will work to maximize the benefits to you. We are offering free consultations to further customize these strategies for each company’s short-term tasks and long-term goals. We can tailor and execute these strategies for you so that you can continue to focus your time and effort on critical aspects of your business.

You may find yourself questioning whether this is the right time to be investing in patents and we can provide perspective on the issue. Think about the stock market in which, “When others are crying you should be buying.” The same concept applies to patent strategy. A major factor to consider is the competitive advantages that come from filing applications. If your competitors are forgoing patent protection during this time and you are filing patent applications now, you will have a competitive advantage several years from now when you have patents covering your latest technology and they don’t.

Conversely, if your competitors are continuing to file new patent applications now while you delay or avoid new filings, you will be at a disadvantage relative to them in the future. The worst-case scenario is that a powerful competitor obtains patents now while you don’t, in which case they will have a stronger position in the marketplace on a number of fronts, including valuation, licensing options, and litigation.

There are strong business reasons for paying attention to patents, even during this difficult time. The US Patent Office is fully operational in the midst of the crisis and presumes that conditions are “business as usual” for everyone. As you may know, the patent system is a first-to-file system and there are restrictions on filing after you have made your innovations publicly available. You may be forfeiting your ability to obtain a patent entirely if you make your technology available publicly – whether for sale or for free, even including publishing papers or other descriptions of your technology – without first filing a patent application. Furthermore, every day that you delay in filing is a day that you could lose patent protection if a competitor files or launches a competing product. There are no extensions of time available for filing new patent applications for new inventions.

We have strategies for enabling you to make targeted and limited investments now that will preserve your options for several years into the future, instead of forfeiting your rights immediately and irreversibly if you don’t file for patent protection. These strategies include taking advantage of filing options that delay active examination and the associated costs while preserving your rights. This allows you to defer decisions about larger investments for a later point in time when you have increased clarity about the marketplace, rather than stopping all investments now and leaving yourself without any options for obtaining protection later.

We are all dealing with unprecedented circumstances and are fighting the urge to merely get by in survival mode. We at Blueshift IP are dedicated to supporting you as you plan to transition from surviving to thriving.